The European Union (EU) made a contribution amounting to €10 million and another €0.62 million from the Netherlands to the Palestinian Authority (PA) for the salaries and pensions of Palestinian civil servants in the occupied West Bank.

The EU and the Netherlands made such a contribution to the PA’s payment of nearly 55,000 Palestinian civil servants and pensioners.

EU Representative. Ralph Tarraf, said in a statement that "The civil servants play an important role in Palestinian life by making sure that the public policies and services are carried out. They ensure the functioning of the system, stability and security.”

Tarraf added “Civil servants and pensioners rely on their wages for their day-to-day life. Our contributions to civil servants salaries and pensions demonstrate once more the European Union's enduring support for Palestinian state-building efforts.

He confirmed that the EU along with its Member States remain committed to the Palestinian people.

EU contributions go towards the salaries of Palestinian civil servants and pensioners to help ensure that essential services, such as hospitals and schools, continue operating in the West Bank.

Since the launch of PEGASE, the financial mechanism to support the PA Reform and Development Plan and subsequent Palestinian national plans and agendas, over € 2.3 billion have been donated by the EU through the PEGASE programs.

In addition, the EU has provided assistance to the Palestinian people through UNRWA and several other international NGO’s, including humanitarian and food aid programs.

Rawan Suleiman, Palestine’s ambassador to the Netherlands and International Organizations in The Hague, presented on Monday, in official ceremonies, her credentials to the Director General of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), Ahmet Üzumcu, as Permanent Representative of the State of Palestine to this organization.

Suleiman stressed, during the ceremony, that the accession of the State of Palestine to the OPCW “reflects the extent of its commitment and keenness to contribute to international peace and security and to fulfill its duties as an active member of the international community.”

Uzumcu welcomed the accession of the State of Palestine to the organization, saying that this strengthens the role and objectives of the OPCW in preventing the proliferation, use and stockpiling of chemical weapons.

Netherland's Jewish community decries comedian Sanne Wallis de Vries' parody of Israeli Eurovision winner’s song for implying US embassy was opened for Israeli financial gain, insinuating world leaders 'eat out of Israel's hands'

Netherlands' Jewish community and pro-Israel organizations are fuming over an anti-Israeli parody of Netta Barzilai's "Toy" broadcast Saturday during a popular TV-show aired on a public broadcasting channel, which some say contained anti-Semitic overtones.

Performing her rendition of the Israeli winner's Eurovision Song Contest song, the comedian Sanne Wallis de Vries implied during her version on her

new show that the US’s opening of its new embassy in Jerusalem was yet another way to make money.

De Vries sung the chorus against a background of recent violence on the Gaza border during riots that were held the same day as the embassy’s opening. Other images also featured in the background, with the upbeat song contrasting with images of Israel’s security barrier, IDF vehicles and scenes from last week’s deadly riots on the Gaza border. In the parody, the words of the song, which focus on female empowerment, were changed to:

Look at me, I am such a cute country, World leaders all eat out of my handI make all fires disappear with a kiss,We are having a party, you wanna come?Soon in the Al-Aqsa mosque, which will soon be emptyFrom Haifa to the Dead Sea, there is kosher food and drinkSo come and dance with me.Is your country surrounded by rock-throwers? Build walls like Trump dreams about at night and fire rockets at themLook how wonderfully I fire explosives Again, Israel is winning70 years of this celebration is continuing, look how wonderful it is.I won’t allow Palestinians to enter I am a tough dog who chases PalestiniansThis is my party and this is my time to shineWas your party ruined by extremists? Open another embassy and make more dollars and cents.

'Anti-Semitism has returned to mainstream'

Replacing the trademark chicken-clucking during the chorus of Netta’s original song, de Vries inserts: “with your ka-ching, ka-ching and your ping-a-ping, with your dollars and cents and your funds, with your ka-ching, ka-ching, ka-ching.” The Center for Information and Documentation on Israel, (CIDI), a pro-Israel organization, accused de Vries of anti-Semitism by evoking traditional anti-Jewish prejudices by associating Jews with money in the song. The parody also aroused criticism on social media in Holland for the mingling of political and non-political issues.

Following the skit, the organization's members confronted the comedian on Twitter and wrote: “Hi Sanne, we heard your parody and the Israeli song at the Eurovision with the jokes about Jews and money. How funny!”

Other Dutch Twitter users expressed their disgust for the comedian in less sarcastic terms. “You’re a disgusting person,” wrote one of the people after the performance. “Now you have really been exposed,” wrote another. “You don’t have the courage to condemn Islam.”

“Is this what my taxes go on?” one enraged Twitter user asked. “Once again anti-Semitism has returned to the mainstream! How sad,” another complained. The Israeli Embassy in Holland submitted a formal complaint to the television station that broadcast the parody. The complaint was sent both to the Dutch Foreign Ministry and to a leading Jewish community organization.

The Palestinian community in Netherlands in cooperation with Movement x Organization on Saturday organized a solidarity protest in Rotterdam city in support of the Great March of Return in Gaza.

The participants condemned the ongoing Israeli aggression on the Palestinian people and called for an end to the crimes committed against peaceful protesters in Gaza.

Palestinian flags and banners having the names of the protesters killed since the launch of the Great March of Return were raised during the protest.

The Palestinian community in Netherlands are planning a series of popular events in Rotterdam in the coming days to express support for the right of return and mark the 70th anniversary of the 1948 Nakba.

The Palestinian community and the Palestinian House in the Netherlands on Saturday organized a bicycle procession in The Hague called for by the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.

This symbolic bike rally was staged as part of the Palestinian Nakba anniversary activities and to protest, in particular, the Italian bicycle marathon (Giro d’Italia) that will start in Occupied Jerusalem.

Scores of Palestinian citizens living in the Netherlands and pro-Palestine activists participated in the rally.

The participants started their rally from the Dutch Parliament Square in The Hague and cycled to the headquarters of the International Court of Justice and then the International Criminal Court before they went back to the square again.

The movement has already urged the organizers of the cycling race Giro d’Italia to “steer clear of apartheid” by relocating the start of its 2018 race from Israel.

The Giro d’Italia, an annual multiple-stage bicycle race founded in 1909, has made foreign starts in recent years in Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark and Northern Ireland. Israel will be the first non-European country to host the start of this race.

The race will start in Jerusalem, followed by stages from Haifa to Tel Aviv and the Negev.

The BDS movement called on activists to take action “to stop this sports-washing of Israel’s occupation and apartheid.

“Starting the race anywhere under Israel’s control will serve as a stamp of approval for Israel’s oppression of Palestinians. Would the Giro d’Italia have considered starting a race in apartheid South Africa in the 1980s?” the movement said.

BDS also called on the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), the governing body of cycling, to take action to relocate the start of the Giro d’Italia cycling race from Israel.

A report by the Israeli rights group, B’Tselem said that the Israeli army has been illegally using force following the killing of an Israeli rabbi last month, during Israeli raids on the West Bank.

The report noted that Israeli use of Dutch army dogs caused the injury of three Palestinians, including a woman, in addition to terrorizing children through releasing them inside homes during raids.

The report cited a violation where Israeli army demolished four houses in Jenin, one of which was demolished while the residents were still inside. B’Tselem also documented the storming of two houses in the villages of the area, during which they incited dogs to attack three women, then body-searched them undressed during the dawn raids.

According to the PNN, the report recounted terrifying details about the use of dogs by occupation officers on February 3, 2018 at 6:00 am, when dozens of soldiers raided the town of Burqin in Jenin, where the soldiers surrounded the house of Mabrouk and Inas Jarrar (40, and 37 years old). Soldiers blew up the entrance door to the building, where the sound of explosions woke them up. The two rushed to bring their children (3 years and 9 years) to their bedroom. Minutes later. the soldiers blew up the door of their house on the second floor.

After the explosion, a dog was released into their bedroom, where it bit the father (Mabrouk) in his left shoulder and knocked him down. Inas tried to free her husband from the dog’s teeth but couldn’t. The boys hid behind the bed and cried.

In an affidavit to B’Tselem, fieldworker Abd al-Karim Sa’di on February 4, 2018, Inas described what happened next: “I ran to the door to ask for help and then I saw soldiers standing at the top of the stairs leading to our house. The soldiers shouted at me in Arabic to take everyone out of the house; one of them demanded that Ahmed Jarrar (the wanted young man) be removed from the house. I begged them to save my husband from the dog but they remained standing and did nothing […] Their fear of my parents in their clothes and could not stand on their feet.”

In his testimony on 14 February, 2018 to B’Tselem’s fieldworker, Abdelkarim Saadi, Mabrouk Jarrar described what happened to him after the soldiers dropped him on the stairs: “At the end of the stairs, one of the soldiers took me out of the dog’s teeth. Then another soldier came and punched me twice on my nose. The soldiers took me to one of the rooms on the first floor of the house. All this time blood was flowing from my left arm and from my nose. Then a big officer came and seemed surprised by what the dog had done to me. The officer showed me by his cell phone and ordered the soldiers to free my hands from the restrictions – which they had already placed. The officer was talking to the soldiers in Hebrew and I understand her a bit.”

Only two and a half hours later, the soldiers evacuated Mabrouk Jarrar for treatment at Afula hospital. There, they tied his legs to the bed and put two soldiers at the door of the room. A week later, on 11 February, the soldiers removed the restraints from his hands and informed him that he had been released without taking action. On the 13th, Mabrouk was transferred to Rafidia Hospital for follow-up treatment.

On February 8, 2018, while Mabrouk Jarrar was still lying in the Afula hospital, about 20 soldiers came to his home at around 3:00 am. Inas Jarrar was at home with her mother-in-law (Houria, 75) and her sister-in-law (Dalal, 50, Dumb and Down’s syndrome). Both came to support and help them deal with what happened. Since the incident, the newborns have stayed at the home of their father’s first wife.

The soldiers stormed the door on the first floor and went straight up to the second floor. When Inas opened the door, they entered the house and asked if there was a man in the house. They also asked Inas if she had money because, if the answer was yes, “it was money from Hamas and they had to confiscate it.”

Enas told them that there was no money and then the soldiers searched the house. When they did not find anything, the soldiers ordered Inas to go into the bedroom to carry out a search of her body. In the bedroom, the soldier asked Inas to take off her clothes completely and stand naked and then searched the same way the other two women who were at home. In an affidavit made on February 8, 2008 by B’Tselem’s fieldworker Abdel-Karim Saadi, Inas said:

“The soldier asked me to take off all my clothes and I did what I was asked for. I thought she would only search me by passing a scanner but I was surprised by her insisting that I take off my underwear as well. After taking off my clothes, the soldier took a look at the clothes she had taken off and then ordered me to turn her back and I was naked. I felt broken and humiliated. I wished death to myself so that I would not witness such moments again. The soldier ordered me to kneel and stayed for two or three minutes – the longest minutes I have ever had. Just then she told me that I could wear my clothes. I believe this soldier does not have an atom of morality or humanity.”

In her testimony to B’Tselem, on 13 February, 2018, Houria Jarrar described what happened to her after leaving the room with the soldier: “Inas and the soldier entered the room where we were. The soldier told me she wanted to search our bodies. I cried and said to her, ‘What do you want from me! I am an old woman and I move with difficulty, you should be ashamed of yourselves!’ Inas and the soldier helped me to take off my clothes as I sat on the bed. I felt helpless and deeply saddened by what the soldier had done to me and I was crying all the time. How can a young soldier force an elderly woman like me to take off her clothes and reveal her nakedness in front of her in this way? After the inspection, the soldier Inas ordered that she help her to remove my daughter Dalal as well. Inas helped her and the soldier searched Dalal’s body. I could not stop crying.”

In another story, at approximately 04:00, security forces stormed the house of Nur al-Din and Samahar ‘Awad, 48, 42, and four children. The soldiers stormed the door of the house and when Samaher awoke from the noise they made, she saw a dog standing in her bedroom. She screamed and her husband woke up and immediately jumped from his bed to the dog to get him out of the room. The dog then bitten him with his right hand and the soldiers who were standing at the bedroom door did not move.

The soldiers ordered the family members not to leave the house and then left themselves a few minutes later. A few more minutes passed and, then, the family heard roads on the back door of their house. In her testimony on February 4, 2018 in front of B’Tselem’s fieldworker, Abdel-Karim Sa’di, Samaher Awad described what happened next as follows: “I was carrying my two-year-old son Karam and he was crying and hugging my chest. I opened the door which the soldiers had ordered, and with a dog attacking me with a hump to my breast, and my son fell upon the ground. My dog ​​banged my chest and then managed to keep it away from me but grabbed my left thigh. I gathered all my strength and managed to push it away from me. All this and the soldiers stand and look without doing anything. All this time my husband was begging the soldiers to take the dog.

“One of the soldiers spoke with the dog in Hebrew and then the dog attacked and grabbed me from my left hand and kept holding it for several minutes until another soldier came,” Samaher said. “I started bleeding heavily. My husband asked them to treat my hand but they did not care.”

Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation of the Netherlands, Sigrid Kaag, has been subjected to a fierce campaign for donating 13 million euros to UNRWA.

Head of the Palestinian House in the Netherlands Amin Abu Rashid expressed gratitude to the Dutch Minister for her support to the Palestinian cause over the US President’s decision to reduce his country financial aids to UNRWA.

In this regard, Abu Rashid called for more support to the Palestinian people and their legitimate rights.